Tag Archives: Protests

It’s time to cue Joan Crawford “No more wire hangers,” or better yet: “Tina, bring me the axe!” Maybe it’s about time to at least bring down the hammer on the city of Berkeley. The city shows how well government can waste taxpayer money by sending wire hangers to 20 politicians who believe in the sanctity of life, or whom believe that the long-standing ban of federally funded abortions should be retained.

The city of Berkeley mailed coat hangers to 20 members of Congress on Wednesday in protest of the anti-abortion amendment in the House version of the federal health care bill.

The City Council approved the action 7-1 on Tuesday night. Councilman Gordon Wozniak dissented; Mayor Tom Bates was absent.

Metal coat hangers were mailed with a protest letter to members of the House of Representatives who voted in favor of the amendment but have a history of supporting abortion rights.

The amendment would ban coverage of abortion for those who would receive government-run health insurance. It would also forbid people from choosing a private plan that covers abortion if they receive federal subsidies to pay for the insurance.

I think we should invite her to the city council meetings in the future:

We have another case of “I’m not a doctor, but I play one at town halls.”

Sheila Leavitt appeared at Barney Frank’s town hall yesterday, where the Associated Press article this morning claimed she was a physician. However, upon further investigation after the town hall had ended, a man who attended the event, looked into the Massachusetts database of doctors to find out whether or not this woman was in fact listed. Lo and behold, there was no trace of either a Sheila Levitt or Leavitt as a practicing physician in the state.

I’m tired of hearing about fake concern at town halls when average Americans attend after work or take a day off to be inside a forum to voice their opinions and concerns. None of the people I have met at any of the tea parties or town halls are paid, coerced, or bused to the event. Is it so hard to believe that the real astroturf may come from the left more so than the right? Which would explain why so many on the left believe this to be a fake movement.

During the town hall, Leavitt stated that she hoped reform would create a more even playing field regarding pay for primary care physicians as opposed to specialists who make more money. The Associated Press picked up on this story and the fact that this woman also harped on those opposed to ObamaCare as using the “same talking points.” I find it ironic because this woman sounds very similar to the ‘faux’ doctor at Sheila Jackson-Lee’s town hall, Roxana. The Associated Press claimed this woman was a doctor from Newton, MA, but there is no record of her, and according to a freeper who also conducted an investigation of their own, via the AMA website/database, she does not exist.

The only references to Sheila Leavitt as a medical doctor I can find on Google (besides references to last night’s town hall) are self-references; where she identifies herself that way. I could find no listing for a medical office belonging to Sheila Leavitt. Physicians generally have offices where they practice medicine.

This woman may not have personally claimed she was a doctor, but even so, this says more about the movement on the left and the real meaning of astroturf, as well as, the media lapdogs that so willingly follow Obama over a liberal cliff like little lemmings.

Alan Grayson held a town hall yesterday evening last minute in Orlando, FL. He held his town hall at a union headquarters, which I believe violates House Rule 24 which stipulates that town halls must be held at public venues for public debates. Although some of our taxpayer money may be heading to unions under the table – I still believe they are supposed to be private “technically.”

Many who attended his town hall yesterday felt that the venue was unfair and union supporters were sent in as typical astroturf for liberals.

The hastily-called meeting was held in a relatively small union hall which limited attendance to about 120 or so members of the public. But it was held just after a regular meeting of local Democrats, some of whom stayed behind for the town hall in the scarce seats.

Outside the union hall, a frustrated crowd of hundreds of people who could not get into the hall waved signs and chanted simultaneously for and against health care.

There were so many different chants that they were unintelligible. At one point, Andy Showen, 49, of Orlando, angry he couldn’t get in, pulled on a side door until police officers stopped him…

This meeting was a joke. PRECEDED by an Orange County Democratic Party meeting. Easily 750 people outside. Grayson hides behind his 3 kids. He’s a sick Democrat.

I was at the meeting. I got there at 6:15 and I was number 70 in line. When they closed the doors, there were about 40 in front of me who didn’t get in. So a good estimate of how many they let in is 30. They said the place held 130 so they preloaded the room with 100 and let 30 regular citizens in, which is somewhere between 5% and 10% of the people who showed up.I asked one of Grayson’s reps at the door why they didn’t get a bigger place. She had two reasons. 1. They couldn’t find a bigger place on such short notice (which begs the question, “then why didn’t you give some notice?), and 2. She said that it was free and they didn’t spend any taxpayer money.

She also told me that lots of events have to turn people away. She was smug and patronizing. After the recent history of Democrats having “town hall meetings” packed with their own supporters, doing the very same thing again here shows an amazing arrogance.

You are not going to believe this, but Grayson brought three of his children to the event! The children were in the 8-12 yr old range, and he asked that we be respectful in light of this. He did state that he will support the bill in it’s present stage, repeatedly stated that 18,000 people die each year due to no health insurance, that this was the right thing to do, was morally responsible and that he could not sleep at night knowing that he did nothing about this.

Wait!? So let me get this straight… Grayson stacks his town hall with supporters/astroturfers, but those opposing ObamaCare are fake and don’t represent America. We had a Democrat who held a town hall at a Children’s Hospital, we had an 11-yr-old girl of an Obama supporter exploited at his New Hampshire town hall, and now Alan Grayson uses his children as a shield in order to make the crowd ‘respectful?’

I can think of other countries further ‘East’ that also like to use children as shields…

Listen to how Barney Frank responds to several people at his town hall from earlier today. This man is a bumbling buffoon but continues to be voted in. You can apparently destroy the economy and trample over the constitution, but still get voted back into Barney’s district in Massachusetts, so long as you are not a Republican. I would think that some Democrats would begin to get tired and upset by the way Barney Frank treats his constituents, as well as his elitism/attitude problem.

In a health care town hall yesterday, held by Spencer Bachus of Alabama, seniors made up the majority of the audience. This has appeared to be the norm in many other forums taking place during August’s recess as Congress tries to build support and momentum for a government health care option and health care/insurance reform.

Nepomuceno says he feels like older people will lose control of their health care options under Obama’s plan. He was sitting with Barbara Jones, 64, of The Narrows. She said she too was concerned about how senior citizens would be treated. “We’re losing our values,” Jones said.

Knight said she agreed with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s position about the likelihood of government “death panels.”

“The government should never put itself in the position of assisting people in the decision to die,” Knight said. “It undermines our relationship with our government.”

Seniors are the most concerned demographic regarding the health care debate, and it’s no wonder when they make up the largest portion of those who require insurance/medicaid/surgeries & pharmaceuticals. As we age, our health deteriorates, and as our health deteriorates we spend more money on attempting to maintain that health, or at least improve it a little for a better quality of life.

A government takeover could become a nightmare for people like my grandmother whose kitchen table is her medicine cabinet. She struggles with osteoporosis, arthritis, 2 replacement hips, and immobility. She is on multiple drugs and requires home assistance 4 times per week. She refuses a hand out, or any type of help that would keep her in an institution and out of her own home. Nobody is sure of what exactly is written in the health care bill, and rightfully so, people are scared. The cliche “it’s better to be safe than sorry,” is a cliche for a reason. Seniors have the most to lose if somehow the truth does come out that government health care would be rationed and in order to cut costs, those that are the most expensive to keep alive would be let go first. There’s no fear-mongering when mentioning rationing. Why shouldn’t we believe that a government controlled system wouldn’t end up utilizing rationing to offset astronomical costs when this is already done in other countries that have a public health care system?

Seniors have become so distraught and angered over a bill that is being rushed without any representatives reading it thoroughly that many have dropped their AARP memberships. The Obama administration announced that the AARP, a supposed non-partisan group for seniors, had endorsed his health care reform initiative. They back-tracked when there was citizen outrage at the AARP endorsing a partisan piece of legislation. The Obama administration is now stating that the AARP does not endorse the health care bill but they support his initiatives. There really isn’t much difference in either statement, and due to AARP’s partnership with the unions, like SEIU, or AARP’s CEO who contributed 8.9K to Obama’s election campaign, it goes without saying that the AARP is in fact partisan and it is in fact in bed with the left/Obama’s administration.

CBS News has learned that up to 60,000 people have cancelled their AARP memberships since July 1, angered over the group’s position on health care.

Elaine Guardiani has been with AARP for 14 years, and said, “I’m extremely disappointed in AARP.”

Retired nurse Dale Anderson has 12 years with AARP and said, “I don’t wanna be connected with AARP.”

Many are switching to the American Seniors Association, a group that calls itself the conservative alternative.

Can you honestly blame them? Especially after this town hall in early August where those representing AARP were some of the rudest, excluding Congress, individuals I have seen at a public forum in quite a while?

I’m glad that seniors are taking a stand, voicing their opinions, and making their contributions, or lack thereof, felt far and wide. Americans of all shapes and sizes, colors and creeds, genders and ages, are voicing their opinions in whatever way they can, whether for or against health care, and this is the essence of the philosophy behind democracy and why our founders envisioned a Republic. I have always been proud to be an American but even more so since the tea party movement began!

I have been extremely troubled by the rhetoric that has come out of the Democrat majority in Congress as well as the Commander in Chief over the last couple of weeks. If there is one amendment to the Constitution that trumps all others, it would be the first one. The first amendment is one in which truly separates the free, from the oppressed, and for our own government to denounce healthy dissent and outspoken opposition (whether they agree or not) is just wrong.

Maybe I was delusional over the last 8 years, but as I recall, and even at a much younger age; Bush was demonized as BusHitler, a chimp, an imperial emperor, a dictator, and any other fascist besides Hitler. I do not recall the Bush administration or those in Congress stooping so low as to turn the attention onto the protesters and accuse them of being such vile groups, names, and of all things: Astroturf.

It’s true that during the Bush years the media was on the side of the protesters, so that is already one mark against Obama’s opposition, however, more and more are beginning to awaken to the joke that is called the US mainstream media, or the 4th column of the DNC. Democrats can’t even take half of these channels seriously because they know that even some views that they may tend to agree with aren’t questioned, just sugar-coated. The media loved the 6 woman protest that sat out front of President Bush’s yard, against the Iraq war, they loved the huge global warming protests, the unions/ACORN protesting banks to force them into making risky loans to those who would otherwise not have the proper credit or income to buy a home. The media loved all the anti-war protests, where people dressed as Hitler, brought props like guillotines with Bush’s head in a basket, or devil horns on an American-Israeli ally. All of these and more were acceptable to the media, and even prominent personalities voiced similar opinions (i.e. Keith Olbermann), but now, all of a sudden, those who disagree with their own views are cast out as “tea-bagging, racist rednecks;” sounds fair and balanced to me.

The hypocrisy comes from the past 8 years where speakers and special guests on college campuses were shouted down, fists thrown through windows to end a lecture, or pies thrown in faces. The last 8 years had people walking around the White House in orange jumpsuits with black bags over their heads. The last 8 years had Code Pink groupies shouting during Congressional hearings or holding anti-war protests and blocking people from entering recruiting centers. The last 8 years was a large scoop of insanity with sprinkles of dissent, and as much as I disagreed with where they stood, and at times, how they went about doing it, they still had that one very basic American right: The freedom of speech.

William Jacobsonput things into perspective when he wrote, “So this is what it comes to. After eight years of protesters hanging George Bush in effigy, calling him a Nazi, disrupting conservative speeches on campuses by taking over stages or throwing pies, creating websites and movies that wished for Bush’s death, and a myriad of other indignities…. After all this time, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer discover what it means to be ‘Un-American.’”

I recall a not so distant past where Democrats railed against Bush and his unconstitutional Patriot Act, but the ‘true’ supporters are somehow able to turn a blind eye to a President violating a US code and American privacy rights when asking for people to snitch on their neighbors by sending emails about ‘fishy’ comments regarding health care to flag@whitehouse.gov. The White House is caught in a horrible conundrum since it can neither collect data on individuals, nor can it purge the data once it’s received. This sounds fairly similar to Bush’s wiretapping, if not worse. The worst part isn’t even the fact that Obama has actually expanded the wire-tapping program, but that many Democrats are unable to see their own hypocrisy.

Democrats’ concerns about allowing all viewpoints to be heard accurately would be a lot more credible if they had not been silent when those on the right were being silenced and demagogued. In many cases leading Democrats were not silent, but actively participated in the demagoguery, spreading misinformation far and wide with the assistance of their friends in the media.

There have been many such examples over the past few decades. Remember Democrats’ claims that Republicans wanted to starve old people and school children? You know, back when they used to tell Americans on a regular basis that an increase in spending was really a cut if it was not as big an increase as Democrats wanted?

I could write for days about misinformation: Today, it seems as though every liberals’ go-to entities to hate are the evil insurance companies. I’m sure they all know that insurance companies pay off Democrats and have currently made a deal with Obama to run ads for health care as well as a drug deal similar to Bush’s. I also enjoy the snippets from politicians and radio show hosts that are taken out of context to make immigrants think that Republicans hate them. In fact, I just so happened to run into someone who was misinformed, but agreed with every other platform of the Republican party. However, she didn’t vote Republican because of the unfortunate propaganda she had heard. I disclosed that Republicans believe in immigration; LEGAL immigration. They believe that those coming to this country should pay taxes, go through the proper paperwork, and abide by the laws of the country they come to, not a free ride for doing things illegally – it’s that simple. There was also the misinformation about blood for oil. I guess we will be able to use the term blood for green soon enough. In my opinion, the worst offense was that, which was propagated by supposed leaders in our government: the war in Iraq was lost, but Democrats had no problem voting for troop support or military supplementals.

I’m saddened that people who are getting involved politically for the first time are being called astroturf and un-American. When Democrats put out ads on craigslist or pay off union members to attend protest events, that is astroturf; but not when housewives, nurses, doctors, coal miners, financial analysts, IT engineers, graphic artists, small business owners, and mechanics go to their first protest. Is it really that difficult for Democrats to believe that there are people in this country who strongly believe in the founding principles of this nation and are tired of the elitist snobbery emanating from Washington? It’s a sad day when people, even those who disagree, are disappointed to see American citizens getting involved in politics, government, and the future of the nation. It’s despicable when one party is ashamed of Democracy.